i woke up early to go walking with my ah gong (grandpa; i don't know pinyin so the spelling is probably totally off.) i came back and was running late, so washed my hair and woke kari up, and we raced to the bakery amid funny looks. the bakery, called yamazaki, is located in the underground of the Banciao train station. we passed by the first day while exploring and it smelled and looked so good, that we decided to get some in the future. both of us bought a piece of walnut bread, which tasted kind of like a croissant with walnuts in it. we were both craving milk, except there is no such thing as skim milk here! just whole and lowfat. so.. i got lowfat and kari tried tropical milk, which is actually pretty delicious. then we raced back to the apartment in record time. the whole trip took only about 15 min. then like.. a minute later, my aunt arrived to take us to taipei for our photoshoot.
It was raining, so once we got to a place that her aunt could park the car, we took a taxi to the right building. Upon arrival, Steph and her aunt bargained with the people there and got the price knocked down by a bit. (In Taiwan you bargain with everyone). We each agreed on four outfits each and 34 pictures in a book for each of us. Then ...it began.
in taiwan, when you get professional pictures done, they do everything for you. hair, makeup, accesories, etc. the makeup was pretty shocking at first because it has to be really heavy so it will show up under the bright lights/pictures. mine unfortunately, was not heavy enough, but whatever.
So we each got dressed and made up. Then we were separated to get the pictures taken. I obviously didn't know what the photographer was telling me to do, but I was able to follow her hand motions fairly well. The next three outfits, we had some pictures of both of us together that turned out really well. The whole process pretty much took the entire day because the hairdos and makeup were really elaborate. We ate mcdonalds chicken nuggets and some bread around noon and went right back to shooting. It was really fun, though. It felt like being a model for a day.
kari is the cutest thing ever. they makeup ladies kept oohing and aahing over her eyes and hair and well.. everything. she seriously looks like a model from vanity fair or something in the pictures. i'm mucho jealous. me and my aunt (karen) agreed that she looks kind of like brooke shields in some of the pictures.
anyhow, the entire process is really tiring. and we have to leave right now to go visit some relatives on my dad's side. so we'll try to catch up later!
PICTURES ARE COMING! LOVE YOU ALL! :-D
s and k
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
day 2
We woke up really early in order to be picked up by Steph's godparents Heather and David. (like last year's cutest couple!). They both speak English really well, so it was nice for Steph not to have to translate everything. Heather's brother was driving, and we traveled to Yilan. It's a really small town, because until recently it's been isolated. Normally it would be a day trip through the mountains to get there, but a 12.9 kilometer tunnel that took ten years to complete is now open. On the car ride there I tried wax apples for the first time (good - but strange texture. The inside is fuzzy?!?)
heather and david decided to take us to a mountain where tea is grown. originally we wanted to visit aboriginal people, but it would take too long. and it's the same situation as the native americans in the early part of american history. they've been pretty much killed off. so tea was the more .. peaceful option. the mountain path up was really windy, i was getting so dizzy and slammed into kari and heather a couple times. they made me sit in the middle. *pout* however, it was worth it. the mountains go as high as 10,000 ft! (my ears kept popping on the way up) so we looked at the gorgeous view for a bit, and then bought some tea to sip while enjoying the view. it was great. so peaceful and just relaxing, which is difficult to find in a busy place like taipei. we ate a lot of peanuts (complimentary!) and kari tried a red bean pancake. i was a little nervous b/c i had given her red bean ice cream before, which she didn't like. but she liked this, so yay :)
heather and david decided to take us to a mountain where tea is grown. originally we wanted to visit aboriginal people, but it would take too long. and it's the same situation as the native americans in the early part of american history. they've been pretty much killed off. so tea was the more .. peaceful option. the mountain path up was really windy, i was getting so dizzy and slammed into kari and heather a couple times. they made me sit in the middle. *pout* however, it was worth it. the mountains go as high as 10,000 ft! (my ears kept popping on the way up) so we looked at the gorgeous view for a bit, and then bought some tea to sip while enjoying the view. it was great. so peaceful and just relaxing, which is difficult to find in a busy place like taipei. we ate a lot of peanuts (complimentary!) and kari tried a red bean pancake. i was a little nervous b/c i had given her red bean ice cream before, which she didn't like. but she liked this, so yay :)
Heather's brother had researched where to eat in Yilan, so after traveling back down the mountain, we ate in a little restaurant in the town that was really cute! All decorated in pink with interesting vegetable-shaped lights. The food was traditional Yilan-style, and as soon as each dish was ready it was brought out so it'd be hot. Each person helps themselves from the dish..difficult, in my case, because I had to use chopsticks. Stephanie videotaped me successfully (sort of) using them to transfer chinese cabbage to my plate. The food was great though. Afterwards Heather's brother and husband fought over who should pay the bill. It's tradition that the eldest person pays, but everyone fights over the bill anyway. Going Dutch is unheard of. Then we headed off to Yingge, a town known for it's pottery.
yingge is such a cute little town! it's got cobblestone streets and lamps and is just, so so.. Las Vegas-y? haha. there are palm trees everywhere. shops line the streets and are brightly lit, displaying all their ceramic creations. we couldn't believe that some of them were actually made of out of clay because of the paint details! first though, we found a place to make our own pottery!
the potter welcomed us and gave us each a long apron to wear. we seated ourselves on a long wooden bench were pottery wheels were lined up. he got us started by centering the clay (k is giving me the correct terms b/c i am not a potter) on the wheel. i needed a LOT of help. k's grandma is a potter, so she kind of knew what to do, so the potter mostly left her in peace. as for me? not so. it was fun though. i normally don't like getting my hands dirty, but the feeling of clay was pretty cool. we both made cups and then brought them over to a table where the next step, decorating, began. it took a really long time to think of what to do. kari was given a chinese name (ka-li; no 'r' sound in chinese, really) and she wrote it REALLY beautifully! we were all mucho impressed. i sat around for like 15 minutes trying to think of something. david took footage, and you can view me sitting there like a doof when we get our visuals up. seriously. every 5 minutes he goes "have you started yet?" and i go "hai me! [not yet!]"
Steph ended up writing her name in English really big on her cup, and then writing her Chinese name as well. Then we went into the town to look in the shops. We both loved the pottery that had this beautiful glazing on it that made fan shapes, so we each bought something. Steph also got a bowl that she wanted to be able to use to eat out of at home, and Heather's brother bought me a set of cups "for my parents" (they're really pretty!).
steph: they kept making fun of me for getting such a big bowl to eat out of because i'm trying to lose weight, and if i ate out of it, i'd be ginormous.
Then we drove into Taipei, where we met Heather's sister-in-law, and went to dinner. It was really delicious, and we both ate a ton. There were about five dishes, one of which I really liked with mushrooms and bak choy. We also ate xiao long bao, these dumpling things that you have to eat right away while they're hot with chopsticks and a spoon. I ended up making a mess eating the first one I had, getting juice all over my face (heather's brother laughed at me. I think they were all pretty amused) and Steph had to grab a couple more for me because I couldn't pick them up with the chopsticks. The next two went more successfully :-D. But I succumbed to using a fork for most of the night. After thanking them and bidding them farewell, Steph and I took the MRT back to Banciao and again conked out for the night.
we're alive!
hello family, friends, and whoever else might be reading this!
we are not dead! my grandparents don't have a computer, and my uncle's laptop is broken (i used it last summer as my source of internet). so our updates will probably be sporadic. we are disappointed too.
umm... we also meant to update with pictures but kari left her usb cord at home and i forgot to pack mine in my purse, so it's at my grandparents. sorry!
here's the adventure so far:
our flight was delayed for 2 hours in detroit. we hadn't even flown yet and i was feeling uncomfortable. and kari, too. then the flight from detroit to osaka was approximately 14 hours. we couldn't even pass the time watching movies (usually 3) because the audio wasn't working. kari and i were kind of mad. and very, very bored. so we talked to the girl next to us. she's indian but her parents live in japan, which we thought was quite interesting. anyhow the airplane food was not the greatest- my favorite was the mid-flight snack. our breakfast was gross. reheated teriyaki pork (did not taste like pork) and fried rice. i think we ate four times in 17 hours, so both of us felt pretty bloated. i peed like 11 times total. something about airplanes make me thirsty? who knows. osaka to taipei was about a 3 hour flight. poor kari was sad she spent only a total of 5 minutes in japan because we had to run to catch our flight.
finally we arrived in taipei at exactly 10 p.m. there was a guy there that was holding mine and k's name on a sign and i felt pretty special because that usually only happens to businessmen.
After being speeded through the customs (Steph's aunt knows somebody who works there who helped us out) we met Stephanie's grandmother, aunt, and uncle and they were alarmed at the amount of luggage we had. Steph's uncle took our four ginormous suitcases in his car to Banciao, where her grandparents live, while Steph's aunt took us there on a bus since we couldn't fit in the car. We called Steph's parents around then to say that we had arrived and that's when Steph found out that she'd gotten into JHU. (I think the people on the bus must have thought she was crazy because there was quite a lot of happy yelling). After the half hour ride, where we counted at least 6 seven eleven's, we arrived at her grandparents' apartment. We received a room with a double bed and dragged our luggage into it. Then I called my parents to say hi, and they told me I got into U of M (FINALLY) so I was pretty happy. And then we showered and pretty much immediately went to bed. Which, by the way, is a blanket over hard wood. Although now I'm used to it, the first night was a bit uncomfortable.
day 1
The next day Steph woke up early to go walking with her grandfather, and then we went into Banciao to explore. The weather was really nice, although colder than we thought it would be. Neither of us packed enough fall/winter clothing. Unfortunately, it was too early and everything was pretty much closed except for convenience stores and street vendors, but eventually we went into the FE21 mall to look around. It was very posh, and I made my first purchase: starbucks hot chocolate. Then we went into the grocery store in the basement where we saw the biggest apples we'd ever seen in our lives. About as big as a melon. Not kidding. So we took a picture of it for proof, but got yelled at (?). Steph tried to pretend she didn't understand chinese, but we didn't realize that there was a sign clearly showing that cameras were not allowed. Oops.
around noon my nanny came by to see me
nanny: oh you are so beautiful! your friend is so beautiful! you guys are pretty tall!
me: er, what? (????????????)
nevertheless, i was supremely happy to see her. she took care of me from the age of.. newborn to around 2. around the same time my uncle came and we all headed off to Danshui/Tansui, about an hour away by car. but that's because they drive SLOW here on the highways or just normally. maybe 40 mph; 60 mph at most. in the city it's around 25 mph.. and NO ONE follows traffic rules. k and i have almost been run over about 3 times. so we have yet to come home in one piece. (rayner family, don't worry. i protect kari so i'll get hit first.)
Danshui was just gorgeous. we arrived early afternoon and the place was thriving. first we walked through a little crowded street market (taiwan is basically just an open air shopping place) where i got a scarf to shield me from the suprising chill. it's pretty funny though, everyone here is really bundled up in winter jackets and keep asking us why we aren't cold. but the weather was pretty much perfect that day. lots of blue sky and a bit of wind. kari got a jade bracelet that is really beautiful- a deep, green color which is lucky. then we went crazy with trying food. first there was bubble tea. i've had but kari hadn't. her reaction? "pretty good!" then we had fried pork things/skewers with fried dough? it was REALLY good. like REALLY. kari ate guava for the first time- 2 types.
AND I tried squid. Steph's nanny offered it to me and I didn't want to say no, so I ate it. And it wasn't actually that bad, just the texture was kind of funny. But then she took another one and dipped it in a sauce and said try this one too! And I was like AAH NOO. Steph ran away at the mention of seafood. Lucky girl. (Really though I guess it wasn't that bad). Later we tried taro root in crackers (good) and the best doughnuts EVER. really fresh and hot and covered in sugar.
and we really wanted to try these two-foot long ice creams. seriously. when we walked by there were these guys holding them in a position that basically pantomimed sticking a sword up one's ass. it was pretty funny. however, we had to catch the boat to Bali, which is right across the Danshui River. before that though, we visited Fort San Domingo which was originally operated by the spanish, who were then kicked out by the dutch. the english came next. it was really interesting and we saw encaustic tiles (humanities moment!) and took a lot of pictures of the gorgeous sunset. we also got yelled at again for taking pictures inside the fort. dang.
next we passed by the school that asian superstar Jay Chou went to. hehehe. also, there was a preserved aboriginal house, which i have never seen before, and obviously k hasn't either. we both found it really interesting. there was a slight problem though: neither of us can read chinese! so we couldn't understand any of the signs. i could only pick out a few words.. shame shame.
So after arriving in Bali we looked at the crafts and sat by the sea. We went into a photo booth too, where we could take pictures that turn into stickers. The problem was that it didn't give us enough time between pictures to get into poses, so they turned out pretty awful. And we couldn't read what the screen to edit them said, so the backgrounds we picked turned out kind of garish. But they're still really funny. By this time the sun had pretty much set and it was getting really dark and chilly, so we headed back to Danshui, and then took the MRT (subway) back to Banciao. It was quite a long ride, and we stood for most of it, grabbing onto the handholds hanging from the ceiling because the train swayed back and forth quite a bit. Looking into other cars, you can see them bending, and it's kind of scary, but the subway is the best way to travel long distances for us. Once we got back, we were really exhausted, and went straight to bed.
to be continued.. we are posting now so the computer doesn't crash.
we are not dead! my grandparents don't have a computer, and my uncle's laptop is broken (i used it last summer as my source of internet). so our updates will probably be sporadic. we are disappointed too.
umm... we also meant to update with pictures but kari left her usb cord at home and i forgot to pack mine in my purse, so it's at my grandparents. sorry!
here's the adventure so far:
our flight was delayed for 2 hours in detroit. we hadn't even flown yet and i was feeling uncomfortable. and kari, too. then the flight from detroit to osaka was approximately 14 hours. we couldn't even pass the time watching movies (usually 3) because the audio wasn't working. kari and i were kind of mad. and very, very bored. so we talked to the girl next to us. she's indian but her parents live in japan, which we thought was quite interesting. anyhow the airplane food was not the greatest- my favorite was the mid-flight snack. our breakfast was gross. reheated teriyaki pork (did not taste like pork) and fried rice. i think we ate four times in 17 hours, so both of us felt pretty bloated. i peed like 11 times total. something about airplanes make me thirsty? who knows. osaka to taipei was about a 3 hour flight. poor kari was sad she spent only a total of 5 minutes in japan because we had to run to catch our flight.
finally we arrived in taipei at exactly 10 p.m. there was a guy there that was holding mine and k's name on a sign and i felt pretty special because that usually only happens to businessmen.
After being speeded through the customs (Steph's aunt knows somebody who works there who helped us out) we met Stephanie's grandmother, aunt, and uncle and they were alarmed at the amount of luggage we had. Steph's uncle took our four ginormous suitcases in his car to Banciao, where her grandparents live, while Steph's aunt took us there on a bus since we couldn't fit in the car. We called Steph's parents around then to say that we had arrived and that's when Steph found out that she'd gotten into JHU. (I think the people on the bus must have thought she was crazy because there was quite a lot of happy yelling). After the half hour ride, where we counted at least 6 seven eleven's, we arrived at her grandparents' apartment. We received a room with a double bed and dragged our luggage into it. Then I called my parents to say hi, and they told me I got into U of M (FINALLY) so I was pretty happy. And then we showered and pretty much immediately went to bed. Which, by the way, is a blanket over hard wood. Although now I'm used to it, the first night was a bit uncomfortable.
day 1
The next day Steph woke up early to go walking with her grandfather, and then we went into Banciao to explore. The weather was really nice, although colder than we thought it would be. Neither of us packed enough fall/winter clothing. Unfortunately, it was too early and everything was pretty much closed except for convenience stores and street vendors, but eventually we went into the FE21 mall to look around. It was very posh, and I made my first purchase: starbucks hot chocolate. Then we went into the grocery store in the basement where we saw the biggest apples we'd ever seen in our lives. About as big as a melon. Not kidding. So we took a picture of it for proof, but got yelled at (?). Steph tried to pretend she didn't understand chinese, but we didn't realize that there was a sign clearly showing that cameras were not allowed. Oops.
around noon my nanny came by to see me
nanny: oh you are so beautiful! your friend is so beautiful! you guys are pretty tall!
me: er, what? (????????????)
nevertheless, i was supremely happy to see her. she took care of me from the age of.. newborn to around 2. around the same time my uncle came and we all headed off to Danshui/Tansui, about an hour away by car. but that's because they drive SLOW here on the highways or just normally. maybe 40 mph; 60 mph at most. in the city it's around 25 mph.. and NO ONE follows traffic rules. k and i have almost been run over about 3 times. so we have yet to come home in one piece. (rayner family, don't worry. i protect kari so i'll get hit first.)
Danshui was just gorgeous. we arrived early afternoon and the place was thriving. first we walked through a little crowded street market (taiwan is basically just an open air shopping place) where i got a scarf to shield me from the suprising chill. it's pretty funny though, everyone here is really bundled up in winter jackets and keep asking us why we aren't cold. but the weather was pretty much perfect that day. lots of blue sky and a bit of wind. kari got a jade bracelet that is really beautiful- a deep, green color which is lucky. then we went crazy with trying food. first there was bubble tea. i've had but kari hadn't. her reaction? "pretty good!" then we had fried pork things/skewers with fried dough? it was REALLY good. like REALLY. kari ate guava for the first time- 2 types.
AND I tried squid. Steph's nanny offered it to me and I didn't want to say no, so I ate it. And it wasn't actually that bad, just the texture was kind of funny. But then she took another one and dipped it in a sauce and said try this one too! And I was like AAH NOO. Steph ran away at the mention of seafood. Lucky girl. (Really though I guess it wasn't that bad). Later we tried taro root in crackers (good) and the best doughnuts EVER. really fresh and hot and covered in sugar.
and we really wanted to try these two-foot long ice creams. seriously. when we walked by there were these guys holding them in a position that basically pantomimed sticking a sword up one's ass. it was pretty funny. however, we had to catch the boat to Bali, which is right across the Danshui River. before that though, we visited Fort San Domingo which was originally operated by the spanish, who were then kicked out by the dutch. the english came next. it was really interesting and we saw encaustic tiles (humanities moment!) and took a lot of pictures of the gorgeous sunset. we also got yelled at again for taking pictures inside the fort. dang.
next we passed by the school that asian superstar Jay Chou went to. hehehe. also, there was a preserved aboriginal house, which i have never seen before, and obviously k hasn't either. we both found it really interesting. there was a slight problem though: neither of us can read chinese! so we couldn't understand any of the signs. i could only pick out a few words.. shame shame.
So after arriving in Bali we looked at the crafts and sat by the sea. We went into a photo booth too, where we could take pictures that turn into stickers. The problem was that it didn't give us enough time between pictures to get into poses, so they turned out pretty awful. And we couldn't read what the screen to edit them said, so the backgrounds we picked turned out kind of garish. But they're still really funny. By this time the sun had pretty much set and it was getting really dark and chilly, so we headed back to Danshui, and then took the MRT (subway) back to Banciao. It was quite a long ride, and we stood for most of it, grabbing onto the handholds hanging from the ceiling because the train swayed back and forth quite a bit. Looking into other cars, you can see them bending, and it's kind of scary, but the subway is the best way to travel long distances for us. Once we got back, we were really exhausted, and went straight to bed.
to be continued.. we are posting now so the computer doesn't crash.
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